Ruth 4: Ruth gets remarried and has a son

Synopsis:

Boaz goes to the towns elders and says – I want to buy the land from Naomi – but I wanted to make sure no one else wanted it first. Be aware, who buys this land must also take Ruth as his wife and provide her a son to raise up the name of the dead. The other kinsmen say – we don’t want to do that – you go ahead. It will be just like Pharez whom Tamar bore from Judah (back in Genesis 38) So Boaz marries Ruth and went in unto her and she bare a son. He is named Obed and he is nursed by Naomi. We are now just 2 generations away from David. Here is the lineage from Pharez (Judah and Tamar’s son). Phraze begat Herzon, who begat Ram who begat Amminadab, who begat Nahshon who begat Salmon who begat Boaz who begat Obed who begat Jesse who begat David. (So we now have a line directly to Abraham since Abraham begat Jacob and Jacob begat Judah (among several others – Judah being the one who argued to spare Joseph’s life).

In other words:

Ruth marries Boaz and has a son named Obed (we are 2 generations from David now)

Favorite bit:

(Ruth 4:4-8) Where Boaz gets permission from everyone else to purchase the inheritance of Naomi and marry Ruth. No one else wanted the obligation of giving away some inheritance to a dead man’s son.

Least favorite bit:

The blessing of the women of Bethlehem – it’s nice but seems strange to me. Congrats – you now have someone to watch after you in your old age! I understand that’s important, but... it’s still a bit ingratiating to me.

Coolest bit:

Where not only is the story of Judah and Tamar invoked, we are also given the lineage – and it is important because this is the lineage to that leads to David.

Moral lesson learned:

Consensus is important to good relationships (Ruth 4)